Tag: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

He is only 26 years old, and yet Joseph Gordon-Levitt has had the kind of career of which many “stars” can only dream. Known by most people for his role in the hit television series “3rd Rock from the Sun,” Gordon-Levitt in recent years has had a string of captivating roles in film. Over the last year, I have been able to watch three of his latest performances, and I highly recommend the all three of them, as well as the films in which he gives them.

The first is the movie is Brick. This 2005 film is set in the present time in an American High School, but it has much more in common with the film noir movies of the 30s and 40s than it does with most of the tripe labeled for today’s older teens, like the American Pie films. Brick is a mystery, and the dialogue is stilted and reminiscent of some of the Coen brothers’ work. This use of language gives the movie an otherworldly tone that catches the ear, just as the storyline and film-making by Rian Johnson catches the imagination. If you are looking for something different to watch, Brick just might be the movie for you. Brick also has a very cool website, if you are interested.

Gordon-Levitt does another marvelous turn in Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin. His acting here has earned his high and deserved praise for his portrayal of a gay hustler, whose past and present is haunted by the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a little league coach. The other main character in Skin is played by Brady Corbett. He also was abused, but unlike Gordon-Levitt’s character, he does not remember what has happened to him. Instead he becomes more and more obsessed over alien abduction stories, thinking that his blackouts as child are the result of his own possible abduction. The two characters are, in many ways, polar opposites. Gordon-Levitt’s character becomes sexually promiscuous, while Corbett’s becomes all but asexual. The movie is graphic at times and not for the squeamish, but there is an honesty here that can be attested to by any survivor of sexual abuse.

Finally, this last year saw the release of The Lookout. As IMDB succinctly puts it: [In The Lookout], “Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a once promising high school athlete whose life is turned upside down following a tragic accident. As he tries to maintain a normal life, he takes a job as a janitor at a bank, where he ultimately finds himself caught up in a planned heist.” The accident renders Chris unable to maintain his short-term memory, which he tries to overcome by covering his home with labels and by writing everything down that he needs to remember, even the most mundane of tasks. This leads to a recurring refrain in the film: “I wake up. I take a shower with soap.” Because of this, The Lookout has some passing similarities with the film Memento, but it is no rip-off. The Lookout stands out as an excellent film in its own right.

I give all three of these films 9 out of 10 dancing fish. While none of them are perfect films (only a very few are), they are all worth watching and reflecting upon. Also, on a personal level, I can’t wait to see what Gordon-Levitt does next.

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Yours Truly Through the Years

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The Prodigal Son

And Jesus said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.